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OVERVIEW

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Brief Synopsis

In the snow country of northern Japan the aristocratic Rokujo family has for the past 200 years operated a firm that manufactures a unique fabric called "Yukiyama Tsumugi." Kyueomon, a widower and the ninth head of the family, decides to marry a geisha over the objections of his mother and the rest of the family. Kyuemon then throws the family heavily into debt constructing a new factory in the belief that demand for the fabric will increase. However, competition from the new chemical fibers cuts into the Rokujo business, and Kyuemon, feeling he has disgraced his family name, commits suicide. The family now attempts to drive off Ine, Kyuemon's geisha wife, but because she is one of the few people aware of the true financial condition of the business, she stays on, attempting to save the firm from bankruptcy. She is aided in her efforts by Jiro, a loyal employee of the business, and their close association prompts rumors, spread by Kyuemon's mother, of a romance between them. Jiro's fiancée, believing the stories of her lover's infidelity, commits suicide. Finally, Ine's struggle to save the business succeeds when the government declares the fabric an "intangible cultural property." Ine leaves with Jiro, allowing the business to be passed on to her son, but even Jiro, unable to forget the past, eventually leaves her.